ROME
The Irish Times
PADDY AGNEW in Rome
IRISH CLERICAL sex abuse survivor Marie Collins yesterday suggested that her attendance of this week’s “Towards Healing And Renewal” conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome has represented a “huge changing point” for her.
Speaking on a day when the Holy See’s promoter of justice, Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna, made reference to the “deadly culture of silence or omertà” that has pervaded the Catholic Church’s reaction to the sex abuse crisis, Ms Collins said: “It has been a huge changing point for me personally for how I feel about the church. I came here quite suspicious, quite cynical, wondering if there was sincerity about this.
“I listened to Monsignor Scicluna this morning and I felt everything he said was very clear, very direct.
“Any bishop listening to him could not have been under any misapprehension about what he was saying about reporting, about putting in place guidelines, about secrecy, about everything that we survivors have been asking for.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.